diff --git a/src/libvlc.h b/src/libvlc.h
index 73270c9948607cd3a9d600d2d73c9a9fab0232dc..95f9f888f1777eb777d4492637d1b4beecdff5f9 100644
--- a/src/libvlc.h
+++ b/src/libvlc.h
@@ -68,7 +68,6 @@ void vlc_assert_locked (vlc_mutex_t *);
  */
 extern uint32_t cpu_flags;
 uint32_t CPUCapabilities( void );
-bool vlc_CPU_CheckPluginDir (const char *name);
 
 /*
  * Message/logging stuff
diff --git a/src/misc/cpu.c b/src/misc/cpu.c
index a2009363662f172a7cd3f68d9c1d793b22fb855d..f40654a84064810853a4e110c9834525ea9bad4d 100644
--- a/src/misc/cpu.c
+++ b/src/misc/cpu.c
@@ -317,25 +317,6 @@ unsigned vlc_CPU (void)
     return cpu_flags;
 }
 
-const struct
-{
-    uint32_t value;
-    char name[12];
-} cap_dirs[] = {
-#if defined ( __i386__ ) || defined ( __x86_64__ )
-    { CPU_CAPABILITY_MMX,     "mmx" },
-    { CPU_CAPABILITY_MMXEXT,  "mmxext" },
-    { CPU_CAPABILITY_3DNOW,   "3dnow" },
-    { CPU_CAPABILITY_SSE,     "sse" },
-#endif
-#if defined (__ppc__) || defined (__ppc64__) || defined (__powerpc__)
-    { CPU_CAPABILITY_ALTIVEC, "altivec" },
-#endif
-#if defined (__arm__)
-    { CPU_CAPABILITY_NEON,    "arm_neon" },
-#endif
-};
-
 /**
  * Return the number of available logical CPU.
  */
@@ -403,29 +384,6 @@ unsigned vlc_GetCPUCount(void)
 #endif
 }
 
-/**
- * Check if a directory name contains usable plugins w.r.t. the hardware
- * capabilities. Loading a plugin when the hardware has insufficient
- * capabilities may lead to illegal instructions (SIGILL) and must be avoided.
- *
- * @param name the name of the directory (<b>not</b> the path)
- *
- * @return true if the hardware has sufficient capabilities or the directory
- * does not require any special capability; false if the running hardware has
- * insufficient capabilities.
- */
-bool vlc_CPU_CheckPluginDir (const char *name)
-{
-    const unsigned flags = vlc_CPU ();
-    for (size_t i = 0; i < sizeof (cap_dirs) / sizeof (cap_dirs[0]); i++)
-    {
-        if (strcmp (name, cap_dirs[i].name))
-            continue;
-        return (flags & cap_dirs[i].value) != 0;
-    }
-    return true;
-}
-
 static vlc_memcpy_t pf_vlc_memcpy = memcpy;
 static vlc_memset_t pf_vlc_memset = memset;
 
diff --git a/src/modules/modules.c b/src/modules/modules.c
index 2a4f66818bccfd025cd2ae85cdad1cbd7deb3865..4730661cc0d0beb2973a15382eeaaa193c33850b 100644
--- a/src/modules/modules.c
+++ b/src/modules/modules.c
@@ -901,9 +901,7 @@ static void AllocatePluginDir( vlc_object_t *p_this, module_bank_t *p_bank,
             break;
 
         /* Skip ".", ".." */
-        if (!strcmp (file, ".") || !strcmp (file, "..")
-        /* Skip directories for unsupported optimizations */
-         || !vlc_CPU_CheckPluginDir (file))
+        if (!strcmp (file, ".") || !strcmp (file, ".."))
         {
             free (file);
             continue;